What happens when you can’t find them and you know they should be there in the records? In this demonstration, Mike will take us beyond the obvious and give some tips and tricks to help your research. Thinking like a forensic detective will help you to work from the evidence you already have.

Welsh patrynomic naming traditions have caused many genealogists to shy away from Welsh family history. An understanding of the history of the naming system, combined with the wealth of recently available online resources have opened up Welsh genealogy to the researcher. This talk describes how to get to grips with surnames, the different regional approaches and examines some of the exciting online records now available to Welsh researchers. Finally, a few pointers will be given into Welsh geography and placenames.

The true story of the search for a missing cousin of Mike’s who left the Isle of Lewis in 1923 to come to Western Australia as part of the ill-fated ‘Group Settlement’ scheme. In this presentation Mike will explore the genealogical records of the Western Isles, the various settlement schemes for immigrants and what’s involved in tracing descendants in Australia.

What happens when your family history research manages to creep back to the 16th and 17th centuries? Do records survive from that far back? If so, what are they, where can they be found and how do you use them?

In past times the practice of medicine was carried out by a number of practitioners of different status and expertise. Our ancestors could choose between university trained physicians, barber surgeons, apothecaries, midwives and ‘cunning-folk’, as well as spiritual healers. This discussion will delve into the past to explore the medical marketplace of our ancestors.

This plague devastated the crowded suburbs of London, causing many of the wealthy to flee to the country to escape the noxious ‘miasma’. What caused it, what was its impact and why has it never returned? This popular presentation will fascinate us all.

This plague devastated the crowded suburbs of London, causing many of the wealthy to flee to the country to escape the noxious ‘miasma’. What caused it, what was its impact and why has it never returned? This popular presentation will fascinate us all.